


Magic Reborn - part one - Rogue Nimbus

by meadowrosewrites



Category: My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meadowrosewrites/pseuds/meadowrosewrites
Summary: Growing up in a struggling Earth-Pony village, the unicorn-mare Moondancer has always been told who she is and what she is supposed to be.  Unsatisfied with a life of failure and rejection, Moondancer is willing to risk everything to find a place where she can truly belong; as the person she now is and the person she will grow to be over her adventures.After meeting a spirited yearling, who claims to live in just the town Moondancer always dreamed of, she and her fellow misfit friend, Valentine, join forces with three unlikely heroes of the town to prove they too have a right to belong.Very quickly the two girls find how sheltered and naive they actually were...Story is set several centuries after the death of the Alicorn princesses, after the fall and crumble of their empire, "Equestria" being a happy bedtime story with only shadows remaining of the glory ages under Celestia's rule.
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

“Grandma,” my youngest grandchild, Starsong, asked, trotting into the room with her cousins in tow.

“Sunbeam won’t let us play ball with them, he says we’re too little. We’ve already played outside, and Eclipse doesn’t want to play dolls.” She paused briefly as Eclipse nodded his agreement to the statement, then continued, looking up at me with her shining golden eyes pleadingly. 

“Momma says you might tell us a story. Would you?” All my younger grandchildren joined the chorus of, “Pleease??”

I gave them a smile and set my quill down on my desk. That letter could wait. 

“What sort of story?” I asked, easing out of my desk chair. Firestone offered me his hoof until I had all four on the ground. 

“Well,” Starsong replied, leading the way to the sitting room, “Any story really.”

“As long as it’s exciting.” Eclipse added, “With lots of scary monsters!”

“And magic?” Morning Glimmer suggested, then with a side glance at her brother added, “But not  _ too  _ scary.” I nodded as I sat down on a cushion.

“Can it have you in the story?” Honeybud asked, laying down on her belly beside me. Starsong, who was the leader of the little group took her seat and said decidedly, “Tell us the story about Grammy Valentine and how you met Jay.” The other foals exclaimed their agreement and settled in for a delicious story.    
“Well,” I said with a deep breath, as I transported myself back to that long ago summer day. “Once upon a time, there was a little pink pony named Valentine, and a white unicorn filly named Moondancer, who lived together in a little mud hut…”


	2. A Smashing Introduction

Wakey wakey, day’s a’wastey!” Moondancer opened her eyes groggily into the face of the ever exuberant Valentine. She sat up in bed and let out a tremendous yawn. 

“Better hurry or _I’ll_ eat your breakfast!” Valentine called as she trotted out the door. Moondancer rubbed her sleepy eyes with her hooves, then rolled out of bed. She yawned again, then picked up the corner of her blanket with her magic. She gave another yawn, and straining her bleary eyes began making her bed. After a moment though, she started and dropped the blanket on her wooden pallet bed. _No magic, Moondancer!_ She told herself, _You’ve got to try and be more like everypony else!_ Moondancer sighed. It seemed being like everypony else had gotten a good deal more difficult recently, especially after finding that old spell book. Moondancer shook her head and took the blanket between her teeth. If Ragweed ever found out, she would be in _big_ trouble. Sometimes being the only unicorn in a world of Earth-ponies was unbearably difficult. Everyone looked down their muzzles at her, just waiting for her to slip up. Then they could prove just how truly superior the Earth race really was. Just the mere mention of magic was taboo, and the use of magic at all was entirely forbidden. She knew she shouldn’t have read any of that book at all, but there was just something about it that drew her in. Moondancer yawned again. She really needed to stop staying up all night to read and practice. With one last longing look at her comfy bed, Moondancer left her bedroom to go join Valentine at the breakfast table.

Valentine looked up from her plate as Moondancer entered, announcing her arrival with yet another yawn. 

“There you are! Take a seat, Sleepy Head, before your toast gets any colder.”

“Is this all we’ve got to eat?” Moondancer asked raising her eyebrow at the scanty spread. 

“Well if those Garts would stop eating our garden, there might be more!” Valentine replied huffily. She stabbed a bite of tomato and watched Moondancer critically as she let out another yawn while reaching for the pitcher of water. She poured herself a glass and groggily began chewing her toast. 

The room was silent for a time, save for the sound of the ponies' chewing. Somewhere outside a bird sang, a pleasant, unusual sound this time of year. Moondancer swallowed her dry bite and reached for her water glass.  
"So?" Valentine asked. Moondancer lowered the glass from her lips.   
"What?" She replied.   
"Must be some good book, eh?"   
"Book, what do you mean?" Moondancer said nervously.   
"Don't be silly, Moondancer, you can't hide anything from me, I know you too well." Valentine snorted, reaching for the coveted jelly jar. "You found some super amazing book that you've been staying up all night so you can read it without anypony finding out."   
Moondancer blinked, still holding her water glass in her hooves, while Valentine continued, carefully spreading jelly across her bread.   
"Is it anything interesting, or is it just another history book?"   
"It's not a history book, besides, we've been over this! History is not boring."   
"It is to me and everypony else in this town!" Valentine retorted, licking her knife with her tongue.   
"Maybe if you actually _read_ it you would be able to understand!" Moondancer shouted back.   
"Well maybe you should read a book about how to..." Valentine trailed off, trying to think of some clever response to make.   
"Maybe how to make some pony's brain increase in size?" Moondancer finished for her. Valentine dropped the knife indignantly.   
"My brain does _not_ need a size increase! _Your's_ does!!" Valentine pointed her retrieved knife accusingly.   
"And how is that?" The unicorn asked.   
"All you do all day, every day, is just read books! The same books! Over and over again!!" Valentine exclaimed. "Won't you ever get bored and do something else?!"   
"Like what?!" Moondancer asked, thoroughly exasperated. "You may not have noticed, but not everypony around here actually enjoys my company!"   
"You never even try! You just sit in here every spare moment rereading for the hundredth time from your dusty old books!"   
"Easy for you to say, at least you're an Earth-pony!"   
"And what is that supposed to mean?"   
"It means you aren't a misfit freak that everypony hates, _like me_ !" Moondancer's head thumped down on the table top in dejection. Valentine regarded her for a moment, then said, setting her knife down on the table, "It's not like I fit in just because I'm an Earth-pony. I get disapproving stares too you know."   
"You just don't understand." Moondancer replied glumly.   
She looked up at Valentine sitting across the table from her. Sometimes, she was so envious of her. She seemed so happy. Her light, dusty pink coat and ocean-blue eyes were so normal. She was always joking, whether her jokes were funny or not. She hadn't a care in the world, and was the most irresponsible pony Moondancer had ever met. She may not fit in perfectly with all the dreary, glum, 'responsible' ponies they lived with, but she wasn't a Unicorn, on the top of _her_ head was nothing but her red and fuchsia curls; and no horn.   
"Why are you staring at me?" Valentine asked through a mouthful of toast, spewing crumbs across the table.   
"You, you're just so lucky."   
"Well, everypony might like you a lot better if you didn't spend all day moping around. Come on, you'd better finish eating or we'll be late."   
Moondancer sighed, and sat up. As Valentine swept her dishes off the table Moondancer washed down the rest of her toast with what was left in her water glass and stood up to go.

The sun was shining brightly overhead as Moondancer and Valentine made their way to the garden with hoes to do their weeding. A gentle breeze was rustling through the leaves of the pear tree overhead, bearing down the sweet smells of the ripe fruit still remaining to be picked. They passed by Soapwort and her sister, gossiping by the well, Iris bouncing her fussy foal on her back. They turned and watched the pair walk past, whispering to each other, and Moondancer knew exactly what they were whispering about. With the embarrassed unicorn in tow, Valentine marched right up to Hemlock, who was standing at the edge of the village garden, leaning on his hoe.

  
"Reporting for duty, SIR!" The Earth-mare said, swinging her hoe to rest over her shoulder. Hemlock peered at them from underneath the wide brim of his banged-up straw hat.   
"The squash bed 'or there needs some weedin' done." He said with a wave of his heavily feathered hoof in the direction of the squashes.   
"Right!" Valentine said, with a nod of her head for Moondancer to follow her. They wove their way through the maze of garden beds, nodding to the other gardening ponies that they passed. Valentine found a pair of Garts underneath a squash leaf, and went running after them waving her hoe in the air shouting threats. Moondancer shook her head, and gripping her hoe between her teeth began to weed. She returned a couple minutes later, her mission unsuccessful, and began to take her wrath for the Garts out upon the weeds. The work was silent for awhile until Valentine began singing to herself a rather obnoxious song about orange peels and ducklings.

Moondancer paused in her work and leaned against her hoe in exhaustion. All this digging was hard work; her unicorn frame just wasn't built for it. _If only I could just use my magic,_ she thought, eying the hoe and endless rows of weeds longingly. _I could get all this work done twice as fast!_

 _And so I'm diggin' in the garden_ _  
_ _With a borrowed old hoe,_ _  
_ _Thinkin' on all of the things I'd like to sing!!_ _  
_ _Tuggin' on the rake,_ _  
_ _And feeling REALLY thirsty,_ _  
_ _I'm never gonna make a good garden ponyeeeEEE!!_ _  
_ (Sung to the tune of "Sneaking into Heaven, by Chris Rice.)

Valentine continued in a musical interlude for her garden song, making sick caterwaul sounds meant to mimic an electric guitar. Moondancer shook her head and resumed her hoeing. She wasn't sure if there was anything more irritating to her than Valentine's singing. She began to hum her own song to herself in an attempt to drown out Valentine's sing-song confessions about gardening skills. A particularly stubborn thistle captured her attention for a time,until she finally managed to pull it up by the roots. Picking it up gingerly, she turned and threw it into the weed pile. It sailed off through the air and landed a couple inches short. Moondancer sighed. _Close enough._ She then turned to look at Valentine, whose weed pile was considerably larger, and wiped some sweat off with her foreleg. With a glance up at the sun Moondancer guessed it to be somewhere around noon. _Almost time to get something to eat._ She picked up her hoe again to resume her work. _If there_ _is_ _anything to eat._

Before her hoe even struck the ground, the air rang with the sound of the warning gong. Juncas and his brother Eriophorum's voices rang out through the still summer air, "West of Humpback Hill!! Get back, get back!" A series of nightmarish howls filled the air as their cries increased in volume, accompanied by a scream. Moondancer stiffened and looked wildly around for the cause of the ringing alarm. It had happened. They were under attack. Nothing could be seen from the garden as all the houses lining Main Street blocked her view of the direction the commotion was in. Valentine leapt into action.  
"That sounded like Soapwort!" she cried, rushing towards the location of the scream, hoe in hoof.   
"Valentine!!" Moondancer shouted, beginning to run after her. The drill was to turn, and run to your house as quickly as possible, and shut the door; not run _towards_ the monsters! She needn't have bothered however, before Valentine had gone more than a couple feet, another snarling howl was heard, causing Valentine to stop in her tracks.   
"On second thought, I think they've probably got this." She said, then made a break for their house, leaving her hoe behind. Moondancer more than willingly followed her.

Valentine headed straight for the kitchen, and dove underneath the table, apparently thinking the tablecloth might offer her some protection. Moondancer, hurrying to arm herself, drew her weapon of choice from amongst the mops and brooms. It was a long, slender stick, widened out at the end with a sharp turn to the left, forming a sort of funny L- shaped paddle. No pony could figure out what it was made for, they had just found it in the wreckage of an old house, so they used it to knock down fruit, and of course, the occasional monster thwacking.

Her back against the wall, Moondancer cautiously peeked out the window.  
"Are they coming this way??" Asked the trembling tablecloth, in a loud, hissy whisper.   
"I don't think so," Moondancer replied. "They're just sort of sniffing around. I think they found where you spat out that grass. No, wait, they turned." With a frightened catch to her voice Moondancer drew back from the window, putting her shoulders against the wall.   
"What do we do?! Ragwort never told us what to do if the monsters actually came _to_ the house!!"   
"I'm not sure," Moondancer said, breathing heavily.   
"What? Your _books_ didn't tell you!?" Valentine hissed in response, poking her head out.   
"There's no such thing as a monster-killing book! Books don't tell you how to kill monsters!!"   
"What about that new spell book? Wouldn't that have something?" Moondancer shook her head frantically. "I can't do magic! There _was_ a spell, but I could never cast it!"   
The frightened mares heard a loud snuffling at the door and the noise of claws against flagstones.   
"I really don't think your apple-stick is gonna do much." Valentine said with a glance in the direction of the door.   
"You could come out and help me!!" Moondancer said desperately, clutching her stick harder. Valentine grimaced and popped back under the table. Moondancer turned to face the door. She tried to lick her lips, but found her mouth had suddenly gone dry. How many were out there? Two? Three?! _Seven?!_ There was no way she could take them on! She'd be dead meat before she'd even had a chance to swing her stick! Moondancer looked down at the puny weapon between her hooves. Valentine was right, there was nothing for it. She threw the stick to the ground. What would be the point in not using magic if she wouldn't live to see tomorrow anyway? She might as well die trying with a decent chance.

Moondancer could still hear the claws of the horrible beasts outside clawing at the door. She had a few moments still. She turned and raced into her bedroom, searching frantically for the dusty old spell book, until she remembered she had hidden it under her pillow. Moondancer dove towards her bed to retrieve it and pulled it triumphantly from her bedding. Taking it magically from her hooves she began flipping the pages as quickly as she could while still glancing at the content. Just as she found the page she was looking for there was an explosion that shook the entire cottage, causing items to fall from shelves and onto the dirt floor. Valentine screamed in the other room as Moondancer heard shattering glass noises and loud thumps and bumps. They must be eating Valentine!! Moondancer looked at the book held in her magic. There was only one way to save her. She hoped her magic was up to the task. She screwed her eyes shut in intense concentration. The noise had stopped in the main room, but Moondancer hoped she wasn't too late. She worked her way through the spell, step by step clicking into place, trying her hardest to stay concentrated. After a couple tedious minutes, Moondancer's horn filled the room with its vibrant green glimmer, shooting sparks here and there as she held a laser blast. With a war cry that sounded more like a yodeling monkey, Moondancer charged out of her bedroom to face whatever waited there.

The moment she turned in the door she let fly her laser. The brilliant ball of power flew through the room and shattered right through the window on the opposite end. A startled cry and a piercing scream accompanied it. Moondancer stopped in her tracks. That shriek! Only Valentine screamed like that! She looked frantically around the room with hope swelling inside her breast as her magical laser slipped off her horn unused.  
"What in the world did you do that for!?!" Valentine screamed at Moondancer, lowering a slightly dented pie tin from her face.   
"You're alive!!" Moondancer exclaimed.   
"No thanks to you!" The Earth-Mare retorted, tossing the tin into a pile of rubble that had once been their front wall. "You nearly hit me with that!"   
"It was your idea for me to use magic!"   
"Well I _assumed_ you knew how to aim!"   
"I can aim!"   
"Well, why don't you have a look at the window then! You call that aiming!" Valentine said, gesturing at Moondancer's damage. Crossly, Moondancer turned to look where she was pointing. Before she even gave a glance to her demolished window Moondancer's eyes had fixed with disbelief to something else. A couple paces from the window stood a mare Moondancer had never seen before. Her bright green eyes flashed with amusement from underneath her large, bushy forelock. A smile played about her lips as she regarded astonished unicorn, who was still standing in the doorway. She had the largest mane Moondancer could ever believe a mare could possess, that split in two to fall on either side of her periwinkle neck. Her entire black-and-white jumble of a mane stuck out in every direction, almost as though it had acquired a life of its own.

  
"Hello," She said with a sideways grin after Moondancer had stared far too long to remain polite.   
"Who, who are you??" Moondancer asked in response.   
"You just _now_ noticed her?" Valentine asked.   
"Well, she was on the other side of the room!" Moondancer replied defensively.   
"Sorry about your wall..." The mare said, trailing off as she surveyed the rubble strewn across the floor and the hole that had once been their front wall.   
"Oh, don't worry," Moondancer replied, anxious to impress the mare that she really was a pleasant pony, even though their introduction wasn't anywhere near what she would have chosen. Feeling very self-conscious of her horn she continued, "We can fix it. My name is Moondancer. What's yours?"   
"Oh, my name is Blue Jay." She replied with a pleasant smile.   
"This is Valentine." Moondancer added, gesturing towards the pink Earth-Mare.   
"I already told her my name."   
"Oh."   
"It's lovely meeting you," Jay said, stepping over chunks of bricks and lumber towards the gap, "But I really have to get going."   
"What!" Valentine cried, leaping towards her. "You just got here!! Couldn't you just stay a little longer??"   
"Not really." Blue Jay said, with an apprehensive glance out through the hole.   
"Well, where did you come from? And where did those, things, go?" Moondancer asked, beginning to pick her way towards the periwinkle mare. "I don't know that I've ever seen you around town." Before Blue Jay could reply Valentine cut in, "Oh! Are you from _out of town!?!"_ Jay nodded. "Oh my goodness! How did you do that??"   
"Do what?" Jay asked.   
"Come here!" Valentine replied impatiently, "Everypony knows that all the monsters live out there," She said, waving vaguely off through the gap in the wall. "How did you get here without being eaten?"   
"Uh...I walked really fast?" Jay replied.   
"You must be a fast walker." Moondancer stepped in, taking over the conversation. "Where _are_ you from, Blue Jay?"   
"I'm sorry. I would love to stay and chat, but I really have to go. I'll come back tomorrow to fix your wall. Good-bye!" Valentine waved after her vigorously, even before she had passed over the threshold, calling out to her, "I'll see you tomorrow!! Don't get eaten!" Jay replied with a quirky, sideways grin before turning and trotting off.

The cottage was silent for a while until Moondancer finally asked, gesturing towards the hole and rubble surrounding it. "So, what happened here??" Valentine shrugged. "I dunno, I was hiding under the table!"  
"Of course you were." Moondancer said, rolling her eyes.   
"What is that supposed to mean?" She indignantly demanded. Moondancer didn't answer, but turned and began walking through the gap in the wall. "Come on," She said, gesturing with her head for Valentine to follow. "Let's go see if everypony is alright."


	3. Misfits

N opony was hurt, except Hard Knocks, if you can call tripping and skimming your knee getting hurt. Nopony had seen the strange blue mare either, and looked at Valentine curiously when asked, usually adding on to their reply the question, “Did you hit your head?”    
Moondancer knew better than to ask. She was sure the pony, Blue Jay, would never show up again. Who would brave their way out here to fix somepony else’s wall?    
When she thought of it, who would brave their way out here at all?

The next day continued on uneventfully. Valentine spent the entire breakfast excitedly asking when Moondancer thought their new friend would return. She would have talked about it all day if Moondancer hadn’t pointed out the fact that everypony though she was insane enough already.    
  
The day was hot, as it always was. The kind of stifling, heavy heat that drives all living creatures to pant in the shade. But the garden needed watered.    
She wished it would rain. Moondancer had read of rain in her book, and Gram had told them stories about rain, but none had ever fallen that Moondancer yould recall. How could it rain with all the pegasi gone?    
The path to the watering hole went steeply downhill, a well trotted dirt path. The surrounding terrain was hilly and rocky, the kind of sparse, unpleasant grass grew. The walk back up the hill was tough, and would still have been unpleasant even if you weren’t carrying large, heavy buckets of water in the sweltering heat.    
  
Valentine trotted ahead as usual, her empty water pails swinging dangerously on her yolk with each jolt. She was in especially high spirits today with the prospect of a visiting friend.    
“Valentine!” Moondancer called anxiously. “Can you slow down? We need to stay together, remember?”    
“Well maybe you just need to walk faster!” Valentine called back, turning to trot backwards.   
“Do you really want to be that far away if something decides to attack us?” Moondancer returned. Valentine’s pupils shrunk in answer, and with a hasty glance over her shoulder, she hurried back up the path to Moondancer.   
“Do you really think there could be something out there?” She asked, looking around nervously.   
“Of course, Moondancer replied. “If those alaksdjfljd would venture into the village don’t you think there’d be stuff out here?”   
Valentine didn’t need reminded again to stay close to Moondancer.

The watering hole was a pond around 25 hooves across, the water being sourced from a stream that trickled it’s way through the rocks. Nopony knew where it came from, and nopony seemed to worry that it might run dry some day, as Moondancer had, but for now she gratefully sucked in the cool water, swallowing it in gulps as she felt it hit her stomach and cool her the rest of the way. She straightened back up and let the water drip off her muzzle. To her right sat the buckets, empty and waiting to be filled. She glanced at Valentine. She was busy filling her own buckets and pebble hunting, an activity that also involved a lot of drinking. There was nopony else there, no one looking. Moondancer furrowed her brow in concentration. 

Her horn lit up, and as she focused more so did the first bucket. Surrounded in an aura of green it gently floated into the air and over the water. She then lowered it to the surface of the water, allowing it to fill up. Her frown deepened as she tried to lift it back up again. It rose slowly and steadily until she had it back over the dirt.    
Moondancer grinned triumphantly. She had done it! With magic!  _ Her  _ magic!   
“What are you doing?” Valentine asked rather loudly from behind Moondancer. Moondancer cried out, startled. With her concentration broken, the bucket fell, splashing water all over the dirt and Moondancer.    
“Don’t sneak up on me!” She said crossly, shaking water from her hoof.    
“Ragweed’s made it clear you aren’t allowed to use magic.” Valentine said. Moondancer looked guiltily down at the fallen bucket.    
“Why do you keep practicing if you’re never going to use it?”    
Moondancer sighed.    
“You’re right. I just…”   
“You’re a unicorn. I understand.” Valentine kicked the bucket upright with her hoof. She let out a sigh and looked Moondancer in the eye with a partial smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony.”   
“Thanks, Valentine.”   
Shrugging of the thanks Valentine gestured at Moondancer’s empty buckets. “You’d better fill those buckets up normal though, you’re so slow at it we’ll be here all day if you fill them up with magic.” Moondancer nodded and moved to obey. Maybe she didn’t have any unicorn friends, or even a family, but at least she had Valentine.    
The buckets now full, the two mares began their trip back up the hill to deliver the water to the garden. Valentine was emitting an endless stream of chatter regarding the wonderful rest of the day she would spend with her new friend.    
“Valentine,” Moondancer said finally. “I need you to listen.” She stopped walking, Valentine slowing to a stop and turning back to her.    
“I really don’t think that mare is coming back. If you keep going on like this you’re going to find yourself extremely disappointed when we come to the end of the day and she never showed up.”   
“But she said-” Valentine objected.   
“Yes. I know what she said. I was there.” Moondancer sighed impatiently. “But would  _ you _ risk your life coming here just to fix somepony’s wall?”   
“I suppose not,” Valentine replied glumly.   
“Come on.” Moondancer nodded with her head towards home. “We’d better get going before something decides to make a meal of us.” Valentine gave a frightened grimace, and the two mares resumed their walk up the path, not without the occasional look over their shoulders.   
  
As Moondancer handed Soapwort a filled watering can, her stomach let out and embarrassingly loud rumble. That was the last one. Now she could go and scrounge something out of the cupboard to eat. Valentine had finished just a little earlier and had already left for home, but she could still see her trotting up the main path to their cottage. If she hurried, she might be able to catch up. Grabbing the handle of one bucket in her teeth, and slipping the other over her horn, she ran to put them with all the other buckets beneath the lonely pear tree.  _ It’s not magic, _ she thought to herself as the second one thunked to the ground from her horn,  _ I’m only using my horn like, well, a horn. Nopony could be mad at me for that, _ Either she was right, or simply nopony noticed, but she was allowed to run on her way unhindered.

  
The cottage the two orphans owned was set back from the rest by a small dirt path worn by their hooves that Valentine had long ago tried to grow flowers along but failed. Just another sign to everyone else in the village that Valentine was an earth-pony unlike everypony else in the village. Standing in the village garden, any view of the house was obscured by the line of neat, look-a-like homes the others lived in.    
While she knew it was entirely impossible, Moondancer knew what Valentine had on her mind as she cantered along the path to catch up. That pony, what was her name? Jay? Blue Jay. She wouldn’t be there, at the house, fixing the wall. But, what if she was? Oh, what if she was. The night before Moondancer couldn’t sleep when she realized the weight of what that pony had said. She was from a different village, with different ponies. A chance to start over, to try again. The only problem was, she could never find that place without help.   
  
As she reached the cottage she slowed to a trot until she came to a stand next to Valentine. For a while neither of them said anything. The cottage looked exactly how it had when they left it, except where there had been a huge gaping hole of mud bricks and old boards, there was now a new, sturdy wall. Well, most of a wall. There were still a few gaps waiting to be filled in with mud bricks between the framing, but there it was. Nopony from the village would have helped them like that. The two mares exchanged a glance, then ran to the door, the grins on their faces holding more meaning than a thousand words.   
  
Valentine reached the door first, and throwing it open the two ran through.    
“Blue Jay!” Valentine exclaimed happily. “I  _ knew _ you would-” She stopped mid sentence, and both her and Moondancer froze in alarm. They did have a visitor, but it certainly wasn’t Blue Jay.    
“R- R- Ragweed!” Moondancer stuttered as an attempt at a greeting.   
“Yes.” The mustard-gray earth mare replied. “There was something I wanted to speak to you girls about,” she said, then added with a cross snap of her green eyes, “Now do shut the door Valentine, you’re letting in a draft.” Valentine moved quickly to obey. As the door latch clicked shut, Moondancer and her eyes met. Both knew what the other was thinking.    
“What about Jay?”


	4. Mudbricks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized it's been months and I have still not thought of an illustration I'd like for this chapter so I will just post it without one. XD Enjoy!

O nce again Moondancer and Valentine found themselves side by side with their backs against a wall being lectured by the ever strict Ragweed.   
“I just want you foals to realize exactly what I am telling you,” Ragweed was saying. “It has been a dry summer, and the garden has not produced as well as it could.” Here she gave a significant glare in their direction that made Moondancer want to sink into the floor. “As I am sure you know full well,” she continued, “You two are here sustained merely by our charity. We have a long, hard winter in front of us and food will be scarce; so if either of you care to eat anything, you will have to join into the fight for sustenance with, renewed vigor.”    
She regarded the two younger mares with her cold green eyes, then asked with a tilt of her head, “Do I make myself clear enough for you?”   
“Yes, Ragweed.” Moondancer and Valentine replied in unison. 

“Good. Do you have any questions?”

Moondancer did. She had a hundred different questions zipping through her head. What exactly did she want them to do? How scanty was food going to be? She wasn’t a part of food storage, so she had no idea how much they had gathered already. She didn’t say anything though, only shook her head. Those questions are none of your business, Ragweed would say.

“Alright then.” Ragweed said, looking around the room briskly.   
“Oh! I did have a question!” Valentine said as the older mare turned to go.   
“Yes, what is it, Valentine,” She asked.   
“Did you do that?” Valentine pointed with her hoof to the freshly repaired wall. The remaining holes in it stood out glaringly from the inside, while small patches of rubble still remained strewn across the floor. Moondancer cringed as Ragweed turned around with a slow, ominous blink of her eyes.   
“No.” She said icily. “I did not. You would do well to repair it, however.” Her gaze shifted to Moondancer. “Like I said, the change of seasons will be coming sooner that you expect it.” 

With that she left, closing the door quietly after her.

After a few moments of silence Moondancer quietly hissed, “Why did you ask her that?”   
“What do you mean, why?  _ Somepony _ fixed that wall! It wasn’t Blue Jay, since she’s not here, so it only seemed a reasonable assumption-”   
“The assumption was not reasonable!” Moondancer replied. “I bet she thinks WE punched a couple holes in the wall now!”    
“Why would she think that? I just asked her if  _ she _ did it.”   
“Exactly.”   
“I don’t see how ‘exactly’ makes any sense as a response. You’re just grumpy ‘cause you wanted Blue Jay to come back, and all we found was grouchy old Ragweed and the prospect of a foodless winter.”   
Moondancer sighed. “Ya, I guess. Come on, let’s go outside and see if we can reuse any of these bricks.” She turned to go, gesturing with her head for Valentine to follow. 

She had been right all along. That pony didn’t come back, and this time, Moondancer was not at all pleased about ‘being right’. Now, her existence in the town had become a good deal harder to bear. 

She flipped the latch up with her horn, and pushing the door open stepped out into the early September sunshine. Maybe she could just leave and try to find that other village on her own.  _ Being eaten by monsters is probably a better way to die that slow winter starvation _ , she thought glumly.    
She paused in the doorway as Valentine called out from inside, “You go on ahead, but I’ve gotta get something to eat!”   
“Okay!” Moondancer called back, then shut and latched the door. With a heavy sigh she walked around the corner of the house to survey what was left of their repair job.

The mudbricks still strewn about were mostly useless, unless somepony cast a Shape and Bind spell on them, which was far to advanced a spell for her to even attempt. Moondancer shook her head. They were going to need to make some more to finish the job.

The wall itself was beautifully done, in fact, the repaired wall was better than the original one had been, even in its Glory Days of being newly built.  _ I wonder who would have done this, _ Moondancer thought, running her hoof across the smooth surface.  _ Who from our village would have even seen the wall was broken, much less fix if for us? _

“So how’s it look?” A youthful voice said behind her.   
Moondancer whipped around. “Blue Jay?”   
Jay merely smiled back, her eyebrows raised expectantly.   
“But, but you came back!”    
“I said I would,” Jay replied.   
“But,  _ you  _ did that?” The unicorn pointed to the newly built wall.   
Jay nodded pleasantly. “Yes, what do you think?”   
“It’s- great!” Moondancer replied haltingly, still trying to get over the shock of the mare actually standing there. “Where did you go?”   
“Go?”   
“Well, when Valentine and I got back, you weren’t here.”   
“Oh, I was just getting more mudbricks,” Jay replied, gesturing with her eyes at the neatly stacked pile beside her. “I tried to reuse as many as I could, but some of them were just a little too broken to work well.” She continued, nudging a chunk of one with her hoof.   
“Oh… Thank you,” Moondancer said, unsure what else to say.   
“Don’t mention it,” Jay replied, moving to pick another brick up with her mouth. 

She was unfortunately never able to complete the action, for right about same moment she finished speaking Valentine opened the door and stepped outside. With a shriek that was probably supposed to sound like Jay’s name, she hurled herself at the younger pony, enveloping her in a savage bear hug.   
“I  _ knew _ you’d come back!” She squealed, squeezing Jay even harder, if such a thing were possible.    
“Oh, that’s- ugh- nice,” Jay grunted back.   
“Valentine! Put the nice pony down!” Moondancer scolded. Valentine reluctantly let go, leaving the blue Earth-mare gasping for breath.   
“Moondancer didn’t think you’d come back,” she continued, a hugely wide grin on her face. “But  _ I _ knew you’d be coming back!” She enveloped Jay in a hug again, though a much milder one than before. Upon her release, Moondancer hastened to explain before the pony had too much time to form a negative opinion of her off Valentine’s words.    
“I just thought with all those monsters out there, it would be too much of a risk to come back and fix out wall.” She said with a nervous grin, hoping the other mare understood.   
Blue Jay merely shrugged. “Not really. You honestly don’t have to worry about it.” She gave Moondancer a smile, then turned back the the pile of bricks.   
“Er, Valentine,” Moondancer said as Jay began wedging bricks into the wall. “Why don’t you help Blue Jay, I’ll go and fix something for us to eat.” 

Valentine nodded her consent, then her eyebrows lowered as she said, her voice low enough only Moondancer could hear, “Why don’t you help her? You and I both know that I am the better cook.” Moondancer knew this was true, but really didn’t want to be left alone with the unfamiliar pony. She would have to say something to break the uncomfortable silence, and she had no idea what she  _ should  _ say. Tie alone in the kitchen would also give her time to build up the courage to ask the pony if she could accompany her to her village.   
“It really isn’t that big of a deal,” Jay was saying. “I ate-”   
“NO!” Valentine declared, cutting Jay off mid-sentence and causing Moondancer to flinch. “You came all this way, braving the dangers of the wilderness to repair out demolished wall,” She said, striking a pose and rising to the highest height attainable on her stocky Earth-pony legs. “And I will not, I will NOT! Let you be received in any way less than this! Come with me, Moondancer, I want you to help me!” She turned and pushed the astonished unicorn towards their cottage.   
“But I already ate!” Jay said, as the door closed and latched behind them.

“What was _ that _ ?” Moondancer demanded as the door shut behind them. Valentine put her back against the door and replied excitedly, “I just had the greatest idea and I want to tell you about it!”   
“Well, what was with that whole show out there? You know we don’t have enough food to put on a feast!”   
“Yes, I know,” the Earth-mare replied impatiently, “But I needed an excuse for us both to leave.”   
“You could have just asked her to excuse us,” Moondancer pointed out.    
“Yeah, okay,” Valentine rolled her eyes, “But just listen.” She leaned in closer to Moondancer. “You’re gonna call me crazy, but you know how nopony here really wants us, right?”    
“Yes…?” Moondancer replied slowly.

“What if we convinced Blue Jay to take us back to her village with her! If everypony there is as nice as  _ she  _ is, there might be some way we could fit in!”   
Moondancer stared a the pink Earth-mare in disbelief.  _ Valentine _ had come up with the same idea as her?   
“No, no, just think about it!” Valentine hurriedly continued, misunderstanding her friend’s expression. “We might be able to find someplace where we  _ belong _ , Moondancer. It’s at least worth a try, do we even have anything to lose at this point? Ragweed just about told us-”   
“Yes, I know,” Moondancer said, shaking herself out of it. “I actually had the same idea too. I didn’t say anything ‘cause I thought you would think it was crazy!”   
Valentine’s face broke into a grin, giggling in pure excitement. “How are we gonna ask her?”   
“I don’t know, I hadn’t had time to think of that yet.” The unicorn replied.   
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” a confident smile spread across Valentine’s face. “You just let me do the talking.”    
“Okay…” Moondancer said reluctantly, still unsure of her friend’s persuasion skills. Valentine gave a happy little wiggle, then opened the door and slipped out. Moondancer hurried to follow, not wanting to miss any of the important exchange to follow.

Moondancer trotted to catch up to the Valentine, who was walking with purpose to talk to their youthful friend. Jay was just setting the last brick down on a neatly stacked pile beside the house.   
“I just thought I’d put the extras here in case you had to make any more repairs,” She explained, her messy hair bobbing into her eyes as she turned to look their way.   
“Wait, did you finish already?” Moondancer asked, looking from Jay to the wall.    
“Mm-hm,” Jay hummed in response. “What do you think?”   
Moondancer turned to look in astonishment. The wall seemed almost seamlessly put together, with just the slightest grooves to show where each individual brick ended. Just withing the space of her and Valentine’s conversation, Jay had managed to fill in and finish several large spaces. She looked a the blue filly with renewed respect.   
“That was, really fast,” Moondancer said.   
“Well! I’d best be going then!” Jay replied cheerfully, swinging her legs around to turn. “Enjoy your wall, arrivederci!” She gave them a salute with one of her front legs, and a goofy lopsided grin as she turned to go.    
“WAIT!” Valentine screamed, lurching towards her. Slightly startled with wide eyes and a frown, Jay asked, “What is it?” Valentine dramatically put her hoof on Jay’s chest, who raised her eyebrows in questioning concern, and said in a serious tone, “I had to ask you something.”

“Oh,” Jay slumped with relief, lowering Valentine’s hoof with her own. “If it’s about the food, you really don’t have to worry about it. I already ate lunch so I’m good.” Valentine was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head. 

“No, that’s not what I was asking. It’s something much more important than that.”    
“Alright,” Jay said, taking a breath. “Go ahead, I’m ready.”   
Valentine was quiet for a moment, then blurted out what she wanted to say quickly enough to make it sound like one really long word.   
“Iwantedtoknowifyouwouldtakeusalongwithyouandshowusyourvillagesowecanmeetalltheponiesthereandhopefullymakesomefriendsandmaybefitinsomehow!”    
Jay seemed to follow along remarkably well, asking once she had finished, “You want me to take you to my village?” Valentine nodded vigorously.    
She went silent, thinking for a little, then said with a shrug, “Sure, I suppose so. If you want to.” Valentine emitted a high pitched squeal like a boiling kettle, causing the other mares to flatten their ears and take a step back. After the Valentine Teapot had been removed from the heat, Jay asked Moondancer if she planned on coming along as well. Moondancer nodded. 

“If it’s not too much trouble,” she said with a hopeful smile.   
“Oh, it’s no trouble for me,” Jay said, then added with an ornery smile, “I just thought you’d be afraid of the monsters.” She gave Moondancer a wink, then asked before he had a chance to reply, “Do you need to pack anything, or do you want to leave right now?”   
“Er, yes,” Moondancer said with a sidelong glance to Valentine. “Just a couple things, it shouldn’t take too long.” She motioned for Valentine to follow, then walked back into the house.

The two ponies rushed around the little house, packing everything they owned into their saddle-bags. Valentine was chatting away like a spring-time birdie, but Moondancer was quiet, grinning from ear to ear, her thoughts on the new life and new chances ahead of them. In no time at all everything had been packed neatly into their bags, except Moondancer’s few old books. Looking up at them sitting on the shelf, Moondancer thought,  _ just one last time. Then I will never use magic again.  _ Screwing her eyes shut, Moondancer’s horn lit up its pale green, and first one, then the other of her precious volumes levitated off the shelf and into her saddle-bags. Using her mouth to fasten the bags shut, she slipped the belt around her waist. After pulling it taut between her teeth, she looked up to see Valentine watching her.    
“You know,” she said softly, “You should probably not use any magic until we know it’s okay.”   
“That’s what I was going to do,” she said sheepishly, “I just wanted to do it one last time in case I never got to do it again.”   
“Okay,” Valentine said. “You ready?”   
Moondancer nodded.   
“Then let’s go!”

Jay was standing outside right where they had left her, staring up at the sky apparently lost in thought.    
“You ready?” She asked as they walked up to her. Moondancer and Valentine nodded.   
“Well, we’d better get going then, or we won’t get there before dark.” 

Moondancer gave a wholehearted agreement to her statement, definitely not wanting to be out on the plains at night, and the three ponies set out.


End file.
